Resources, such as gas, electricity, and water are generally provided by utility companies around the world to households, businesses, and other consumers. The utility companies typically charge the consumers based on an amount of resources consumed by a consumer. For this, utility companies may deploy a meter, which functions as a measurement device to provide information pertaining to consumption of a particular resource. In other words, the meter may determine the amount of resources consumed, for example, an electricity meter determines amount of electricity consumed, a water meter measures amount of water utilized, and a gas meter that measures amount of gas burnt.
The meter may be located at the consumer's structure or site of distribution of the resources. The consumer's structure may be, for example, the consumer's home or office. The meter may be owned by the utility company and may be installed in a standard meter box. Thus, utility companies gauge consumption using the meters and bill their consumer's. Accordingly, periodic reading in a predetermined cycle, such as monthly, quarterly, and half yearly of the meter may be performed to determine the resource consumption and to bill the consumer for the amount consumed. Normally, such meters are manually read by sending service personnel commonly known as meter reading personnel, to each of the meters location.
The meter reading personnel read, check, and record resource consumption as displayed on the meters. Typically, the meter reading personnel may plan and prepare for their meter rounds, read all of the meters in a particular area and enter the meter readings into a hand-held computer. The process of gathering meter information may be cumbersome for a meter reading personnel, who may have to cover a given location on foot or through a vehicle. Often times, errors are introduced during the collection of meter readings. Such errors may not only lead to consumer dissatisfaction but may also result in loss of time, resources, and capital, since the meter reading personnel may be required to revisit the meter location for rectifying the errors.